The Way I See It

By Pat Bigold

Tuesday, May 13, 1997

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Trans Ko'olau Trek simply didn't deliver

WISH I could close the book on the not-so-Great Trans Ko'olau Trek.

But I want to know why a race that charged an outrageously high entry fee to its runners returned so little to them for their hard-earned cash.

I was at the H-3 10-miler Sunday and just couldn't figure out why the $39 early entry fee (and $80 late entry fee) wasn't enough for Dr. Jack Scaff's organization to provide:

A computer timing service that would allow people to receive their official finishing times by the next day;

Enough portable toilets on the Halawa side of the H-3 freeway;

More than three aid stations on the course;

Enough clocks so that the Honolulu Marathon wouldn't have to lend two in the last week;

Mile marker signs (now there's a novel idea);

Or even a modest amount of prize money.

I can't forget the painful I've-been-had expression on the face of Utah's Alvaro Palacios.

PALACIOS packed up his 11-year-old boy over the weekend and flew here to accept an invitation to compete in the H-3 race.

He was very excited for himself and for his son, Andrew.

That's because he had newsletters and correspondence that reassured him of a major prize purse.

Palacios is a competitive runner who has won the Deseret News Marathon four times and has been in a number of prize money races.

After letting the world know last fall that they intended to offer a $100,000 prize purse that went 15 places deep on the men's and women's sides, organizers of the H-3 event suddenly realized they couldn't do it. They had jumped the gun on sponsorship for the bundle.

That was December.

But, in a classic act of insensitivity, they decided not to make a big deal about the loss of the purse, and issued no formal press releases on the subject.

Several world class professional runners sniffed it out and they steered clear of the race.

But Palacios didn't find out until it was too late.

ON Saturday in the lobby of the hotel the race provided for him, another invited runner, Amy (Legacki) Manson, told him there was nothing to be won here.

"It took away all my motivation and made me feel so disappointed," said Palacios Saturday night.

But he decided to run anyway.

"I'll run for my little son," he said.

He asked race officials if there was anyone who could bring Andrew to the finish so the boy could watch his dad finish.

Small favor to ask.

But the answer was no. Just no.

Palacios woke up the next morning distraught. Would he have to leave Andrew alone in the hotel all day?

Luckily, Judy Legacki, Amy's mother, offered to take the boy with her to the airport when she picked up Amy's husband, Pat, at 6 a.m.

But when Mrs. Legacki, Pat Manson and Andrew Palacios arrived at the stadium, one of them was tossed off the field - Andrew.

"Security pulled him out of there like he committed a crime," said Palacios, his voice almost shaking in disbelief. "It was already insulting and deceiving for them to tell us there was prize money and never telling us there wasn't. There's nothing for us here now. We're just looking for a ride to the hotel so we can get out of this town."

Nice going, Great Trans Ko'olau Trek.